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Shortly before this, the Carthaginians on their part had come to see that there would be a serious war in Sicily and began making friendly representations to the cities in the island which were their allies. Renouncing their opposition to the tyrants throughout the island, they established friendship with them, and particularly they addressed themselves to Hicetas, the most powerful of these, because he had the Syracusans under his control.1 [2] They prepared and transported to Sicily a large sea and land force of their own, and appointed Hanno to the command as general. They had one hundred and fifty battleships, fifty thousand infantry, three hundred war chariots, over two thousand extra teams of horses,2 and besides all this, armour and missiles of every description, numerous siege engines, and an enormous supply of food and other materials of war. [3]

Advancing first on Entella, they devastated the countryside and blockaded the country people inside the city. The Campanians who occupied the city were alarmed at the odds against them and appealed for help to the other cities that were hostile to the Carthaginians. Of these, none responded except the city of Galeria. These people sent them a thousand hoplites, but the Phoenicians intercepted them, overwhelmed them with a large force, and cut them all down. [4] The Campanians who dwelt in Aetna were at first also ready to send reinforcements to Entella because of kinship, but when they heard of the disaster to the troops from Galeria, they decided to make no move.

1 This anticipates the action described in chap. 68, but according to Plutarch's account (Plut. Timoleon 7.3; 9.2) Hicetas had become an ally of the Carthaginians even before Timoleon left Corinth.

2 The charioteer receipts of P. Petrie, 2.25, dated in the 21st year of Ptolemy Philadelphus (265/4 B.C.), show that it was customary for chariots to be accompanied by spare horses, trained to work in pairs. This account of Carthaginian operations is not given by Plutarch.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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hide References (5 total)
  • Cross-references to this page (4):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AETNA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GALA´RIA
    • Smith's Bio, Hanno
    • Smith's Bio, Hi'cetas
  • Cross-references in notes from this page (1):
    • Plutarch, Timoleon, 7.3
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